and some stitching

I'm still stitching away on the City and Guild projects, each a little exercise in a group of stitches.  The latest piece is taking it's time, and mine, in between visits to York and the Quilt Museum, which was delightful as always.

This was the source - from one of our splash and splosh days at Barbara's

And this the work in progress. The colours aren't quite as disparate, but one was taken by lamplight and one by daylight. Fabric, a zingy recycled shirt found in the Lakes in a charity shop.

The idea in this one is to use composite stitches like raised chain band, guilloche, pekinese, amongst others and interpret the splishes and sploshes in the collage. It is slow but fun, and should be followed by three exercises in counted thread work, - canvas, cross and blackwork.

However I need to get the inspiration and the preparatory stitchings together for my final piece, which is based on this lovely pot that you can find here

She's a goddess of creatures, mistress of the animals, and dates from about 680 BC, called Potnia Theron. From this I got to this, with apologies for the poor reproduction of the drawn image

Again, a bit of splish and splosh as we were encouraged to explore our image, hence the collage, which could translate in to an interesting applique at some stage. The gold of the fabric, which will be quieter in the final piece, is one of the hankies I dyed here.  It seems fitting that a  little goddess cloth should have one of Mum's myriad of hankies as its base - with a  muslin backing to give it some substance. In the hemmed edge of the hankie there is a little row of three birds who will be her animal representatives. I want to use toning, quiet colours that fit with the original image, which is black on terracotta. I have to get this "idea" in by next weekend, which means this week as I have to go up country to visit my Aunt Cecil next weekend and get her settled down for Christmas.

Next!

My next effort in the C&G. This one in fly stitch, straight stitch and detached chain. Each of these little pieces is intended to teach about the use of different stitches, but also has a colour element. This was based around analogous colours; that is the range of colours that move from a primary colour to a secondary in one or other direction around the colour wheel. The previous one was about complimentary colours, green and red, but with a push towards orange that I justified by keeping the greens primarily in the blue/green range - red/green:blue/orange. Probably cheating, but I'll find out next Saturday at our next workshop.

In this case I chose red through to purple. I think I've pushed the boundaries a bit again though, by adding in that delicate pinky white. I'm hoping I can get away with it, it simply demanded inclusion; having started with overlapping fly stitch in the centre I knew dandelion clock was the way to go. It continues the Autumn theme, hopefully with a little sense of the soft seeds, blowing in the breeze that swirls around it.

more autumn

This little piece of stitchery has reached a satisfactory state now,

 an autumn sun shining over the land, 

the colours I'm seeing as I go about this autumnal  bit of the globe

Just a little sampler, about three inches high, it is stitched on a piece of cloth that once was a skirt of Mum's I liked the neutral sage'y background and it has a pleasant even weave to stitch, but feels, and is, a synthetic fibre, which just doesn't feel quite right under the needle.

autumn

Autumn is being lovely in the garden, colours and shapes so rich yet delicate

hydrangea, mum's favourites, here in a variety of guises

the walnut tree, ghost at the bottom of the dell

pansies out front glowing in the low sun

shadows

and light

garden spirits

glowing colour

and stitching!

which somehow seems to reflect the autumn mood

C&G update

One of the things that has been adding to my stress has been the City and Guilds work. Not work actually, because it is all so interesting, but I do have to turn all this

into something coherent and presentable. I am woefully behind in comparison to my more experienced fellow stitchers. But I have been having fun. One of the bits I've been working on stems from one of the colour exercises.

I wanted to see if I could stitch in a way that echoed the marks on paper.

I'm really rather pleased with the way it's come out, though not strictly to the given remit, it does exploit fly stitch, detached chain, cross, straight and french knots. It's only 3 inches square, references the old fashioned nine patch and is worked using the smallest of my between needles and a single strand of embroidery floss.  A certain amount of squinting went on. Now, do I work a boundary between the squares or leave them to blend into each other the way the pen drawing does?

And here are my efforts to date, all put together waiting to go in my folder of works. I now have to learn about bullion, raised chain band, whipped stem, guilloche, seeding and something else I've forgotten. Then I have to learn about blackwork, canvas work and cross stitch.

All watched over by my trusty needle case; a Primary school project I made for Mum more years ago than I can remember, though I do remember being worried that the satin stitch was too long and that it would pull crooked when used. It seems to have been treated gently by time. The snail shell gave me some trouble as well and the R for Rosemary doesn't quite pull off that casual lean into the bottom corner!

Meanwhile the garden is dipping towards winter. The silver silhouette of the walnut is starting to shine up from the bottom of the garden, a few yellow leaves still clinging to its branches.

the maple I planted in the spring is showing great promise

the honeysuckle and jasmine twining round their framework of leafless conifer branches is also giving a sketchy hint of how it may look once fully clothed with a dressing of leaf and stem.

and certain inhabitants are sure that it's now nicer inside than out

A closer look will reveal another cat in the basket .......

More fun on a Saturday!

On Saturday we gathered at Barbara’s again, and did more fun stuff, but Mindful fun. Looking with as much care as possible at what we are doing, during the session, but also taking that careful looking out into life; seeing in terms of the balance of shape, colour, form; aware that we live in a designed world.

We spent the morning learning about shape, balance, pattern, looking at work by artists like Klee, Matisse, Klimt, amongst others. Barbara talked with us about form, colour, symmetry, positive and negative space, and how they all play a part in shaping our response to visual things. Also about how we can use these ways of representing as part of the design process.

Then we spent some time cutting, tearing, looking, balancing, arranging and sticking bits of this and that. We took shapes, three things, square, triangle and circle, and arranged them in the boxes we’d drawn - the colours here are rather more vivid than they are in reality

We also drew lines  horizontal, vertical, repeating pattern, crossing in different directions. The words express what was in my mind when I was drawing them

We tore paper into bits and arranged them on a painted background, using the papers we'd sploshed paint on since the previous session. I missed this, being in the Lakes, so sploshed my bits of paper unsupervised. Here are what remains after the tearing of bits to arrange! 

Now I have to translate a bit of this final arrangement into stitch, to be worked with compund stitches that have exotic names like raised chain band, guilloche, whipped stem. Hmmmm … this needs thought!

the final collage

Then somehow, all of this activity, must be described, transcribed, presented as a body of work in which we present what we’ve learned and the skills and materials we’ve explored. There are some talented women in this group, and we are being taught well. I have lots to learn. Most brought much more to the session, beautiful stitching, beautifully presented, and fledgeling portfolios of analysis an demonstration; I was inspired!  I have an almost empty book and a few ideas bubbling very gently, I have to be careful not to scare them away, I’m not used to his concept of “Me” time.

Samplers Finished

This wasn't the stitching I did whilst away, there were too many bits and bobs to fit in amongst luggage for three people, one of whom was going back to University at the end of the week. There's only so much one car can take! However, I have finished the second sampler since our return, jut in time for the next workshop tomorrow! I'm also required to create some coloured papers for collage, so now it's out with the wax crayons and gouache paints for the next bit of fun!


Hot, jazzy, fruity, sunny

and cool, cloudy and stormy

Such enjoyment to be had from a few bits of cloth and thread!

Moving on

My first little sampler is finished, a mere 5cm x 7cm I had to be quite careful about what threads to use as the fabric, calico and cotton, is quite a close weave. I particularly like the way the shiny purple rayon catches the light and looks like some exotic ammonite, and the transition from closed to open chain stitch in the centre part, blending from rust to indigo. I've tried to echo that in the finer chain stitch coil to the left

Now for the next one, in bright hot excitable colours! This one 6cm square ('ish) and just beginning.

What fun!

sampler number 1

A little bit of embroidery, just tickling along, trying out stitches, seeing what I can do next. This is the cool colours version, still have the hot to go.

oooh, learning

I'm really rather excited! I've embarked on a City and Guilds in hand embroidery being run by the Guild I've recently joined. We're being taught by Barbara Walters, whose work you can see here.

So I spent Saturday in the company women, doing things that felt almost guiltily like play! We sploshed paint onto paper and fabric in Barbara's lovely back garden to start with, preparing the bedrock of our later creativity. Then we were treated to tea and biccies before spending the rest of the day learning about line and mark making, colour, design, thread and stitching. We were given much sage advice about preparing to work, using copious notes and taking pictures to document our work. I shall post piccies soon. Suffice to say I am having enormous fun trying out threads, fiddling with design and wondering about transferring to the fabric.

Oh yes, we did eat our packed lunches as well .......

And there are more sessions to come!

Watch this space.

a full weekend!

Uffington is finished, I now have to decide what he should be surrounded by - perhaps this vivid blue silk, found in a flea market for very little.

and we have had ad weekend full of people, we who are normally very quiet.

Neil's niece and her man, on their way from here to there, stopped by overnight; a fleeting pleasure as they had to be gone early the next day. Then followed, good friends and their two children, who had come to sample the delights of the area. They stayed the following night, so we had the delight of childish stage whispering early in the morning, the two youngsters full of unsuppressable excitement at being somewhere different overnight; two young souls used to having their eager questions answered. I found myself on the floor wiht them, pencils out, drawing elephants, cups and hot air balloons. A delight to be with, full of interest in everything, full of delight in being alive, eager and thoroughly exhausting! They loved the dell where the badgers dwell, and played with the cats on the lawn. It was their mother's birthday and she was wistful, being far from her family in France. I felt for her. I hope these brought her some balm

we are really enjoying the garden at the moment. 

Thinking of Jude who is in the storm across the indigo sea, I am conscious of being in a very good place.

A feather for Jude

This little feather is flying all across the sea to Jude in New York for her Magic Feather project. The feather is for my daughter Jen - Jen the hen, but not a hen's feather, rather a wren's. The rose is for Mum, Rosemary really, but always "Granny Rose" to Jen, both much loved women encircled by my love for them. You can see other feathers flying in to the project here. It is one of the things I've been stitching recently, along with Uffington who is gradually getting his space filled by many many little stitches. I'll post a picture of him later, when his landscape is more complete.

All that stitching though, is not good for the bit of me that needs much more exercise, so today my dear one and I went to the Seven Sisters Country Park for a wonderful perambulation along the meanders and down to the sea, where we saw

wide open spaces

layers of landscape

layers of time, flint and chalk slowly, slowly sifting down over millennia

marsh samphire, glowing red despite the hazy day

 greater burdock, all spikes and rough edges

carline thistle, like little captured suns

teasel rising sturdy above a soft bed of silverweed

stone and wood, weathered and feathered to soft shapes

sea lavender drawing lacy patterns against the while chalk cliffs

and a great many people, all having a pleasant time wandering along, photographing each other, listening to the wind, the sea, themselves, each other, mobile phones, dogs and children

We walked for a goodly while, the day hot and humid with much moisture in the air, other's conversations drifting in and out of focus as we passed fellow walkers. Then we stopped for lunch at the Exceat visitor centre where this fern caught my eye - such a soft glowing green against the weathered tiles

and drove back home over Beachy Head and down through Eastbourne to the Pevensey levels.

A good way to work off the stiffness and stagnation that comes from sitting too long - even if that sitting is productive !